BEIJING – It will take at least another 15 days to cross an enormous amount of rubble and reach the miners who have been trapped for 11 days since the explosion of a gold mine in eastern China, officials said on Thursday.
The mine shaft is blocked 1,000 feet below the surface by 70 tonnes of rubble that stretches for another 330 feet, the Yantai city government said in a statement in its social media account.
“Based on expert assessments, the extent of the blockade … is fine, beyond expectations,” said the statement.
A worker died of head injuries in the blast, state media reported on Thursday. Of the remaining 21, rescuers made contact with 10, one is alive in a nearby chamber and the status of the other 10 is unknown.
The deceased worker was in a coma. Two other people would have health problems. Rescuers delivered food, medicine and other supplies to the group of 11 as they work to remove the debris and improve ventilation.
State media reports said the exhaustion had settled among some of the workers since the January 10 explosion at the mine that was under construction in Qixia, a jurisdiction under Yantai in Shandong province.
Rescuers were trying to clean the cages and other debris that blocked the main well while drilling other wells for communication, ventilation and possibly to lift workers to the surface. The drilling reached depths of about 700 meters (about 2,000 feet), the reports said.
Mine managers were arrested for waiting more than 24 hours before reporting the accident, the cause of which was not disclosed.
Increased supervision has improved safety in China’s mining industry, which used to average 5,000 deaths a year. Still, demand for coal and precious metals continues to spur corner cuts, and two accidents in Chongqing last year killed 39 miners.